Harvester-cutter



(No Model.) 7

W. 3.. BALL & A. G. BAILEY.

'HARVESTER CUTTER.

No. 540,623. Patented June. 11', 1895.

ITED STATES PATENT '()FFICE.

WILLIAM E. BALL AND Amos 0. BAILEY, or ZANESVILLE, OHIO.

HARVESTER-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 540,623, dated June 11, 1895.

Application filed February 11, 1895. S i l No, 537,982. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. BALL and ALICE O. BAILEY, citizens of the United States, residing at Zanesville, in the county of Muskingum and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Gutter-Bars, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This improvement relates to that class of cutter-bars where the cutters are attached to the bar by simply sliding them into a groove, and its object is to provide a strong, light and yet cheap cutter-bar; and to' these ends the invention consists in a cutter-bar made by.

surface of metal, whether cast or wrought, is much the stronger, and especially is this so with rolled metal, for the action of the rollers on the exterior of the metal condenses it to a considerable degree. Hence the advantage of using sheet-metal for the cutter-bar. We do not, however, broadly claim sheet-metal for this purpose, as we are aware that a sheetmetal bar has before been used, but in that case the sheet-metal was simply doubled and the rear edge of the fold was slotted to receive the rear ends of the cutters. This cutter-bar was therefore comparatively weak, as the slots in the rear not only weakened the bar but added to the expense of manufacture. In our improvement, on the contrary, the metal is not weakened by slotting the back, but the means used for holding the cutters in place (the additional layer or layers) serve to strengthen the bar not so much by theadditional metal, for the bar may be actually made lighter, but bythe additional skin or surface of sheet-metal. V

- In the accompanying drawings, which clearly show our improvement, Figures 1 and 2 each represent a perspectiveview of a cutter-bar having cutters attached thereto in accordance with our invention. spective view of oneof the cutters detached.

Fig. 3 is a per- Referring now to the details of the drawings by lettersA represents a cutter-bar, which is formed of sheet metal and is bent or folded over onto itself so as to make (preferably) four thicknesses. A space a, is left between the last two thicknesses of the metal for the reception of the cutters B. The cutcutter-bar the space a is plugged by a filling piece 0 which is secured between the folds of the metal of the cutter-bar by bolting, riveting, or in any suitable manner. On the outside of the end in which the filling piece is secured, is attached an additional strip of metal D, on the end of which is an eye d which is adapted to be connected with the pitman by which it is,driven. At the opposite end of the cutter-bar is a 'screw-hole A, which is adapted to receive a screw 0. for the purpose of holding the cutters in position.

After the cutter-bar is made as so far described, the cutters B may be slid one after another in position, until'the length of the cutter-bar is filled with the cutters, the first one inserted abutting against the filling piece and using it as a stop. Said cutters have holes or perforations b therein for the purpose of inserting a hook, in order that the cutters may be drawn in or out. After the cutters are all in position, the screw a is inserted, which single screw holds all of the cutters in position, in a manner easily seen from an inspection of the drawings.v

In Fig. 2, we have shown the eye 61 formed on the end of the filling piece D. a

From the above and the accompanying drawings it will be seen that we have produced a harvester cutter which-may be used with any of the ordinary finger or guard bars, and

or less than four may be used. The number might be increased if a very strong bar were needed.

To are aware of the expired patent of Reed d: Thompson, No. 136,266, dated February 25, 1873, and make no claim to anything therein shown, as the cutter-bar illustrated in said patent is described as of two pieces welded at the end and riveted along the back. Moreover, such cutter-bar would be very difficult to make at a reasonable cost without expensive machinery (unless made of cast-iron which is unfit for the purpose), whereas ours can be made by simply folding sheet-metal into the proper form.

\Vhat we claim as new is- A cutter-bar comprising an integral piece of sheet-metal folded into a plurality of lay- WILLIAM E. BALL. ALICE C. BAILEY. \Vitnesses:

HOWARD V. GRAY, DANIEL l3. GARY. 

